An old domestic help relaxing on the roadside on a hot afternoon

A tea stall in Amarkantahk

The canopy in a temple

Offering food to the ancestors-Brahmkapal 

The boatman's son

The boatman's son

The weekly market in tribal Bastar

Worship at dusk

Pilgrimage to the Kedarnath shrine on horseback

The children of the Himalayas

Sadhus at an ashram in Haridwar

A Western tourist performing a yogic posture on the muddy banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh

Devotees offering prayers to the mother Ganga at Rishikesh

Sadhus (holy men) at the Kedarnath temple in the Himalayas

Cows returning home

The weekly cattle market of the Bastar tribals

The weekly cattle market of the Bastar tribals

A wayside tea-stall

The goats on the bridge

The temple elephant

Boys playing in the river

On the river banks

The river and the buffalos

The unsuccessful angler !

The river and buffalos

The river and man

Women taking bath in the river Mahanadi

The village square in Chattisgarh

Village boys playing carrom on the road on a lazy afternoon

Village boys playing carrom on the road on a lazy afternoon
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

Dance, baby, dance ! A folk dance drama from Chattisgarh 

A folk dance 

Boys jumping into a puddle 

The fort at Orccha 

Devotees performing a puja outside the Srirama temple in Orccha 

Women feeding monkeys in the Orchha fort 

Two brahmins taking a holy dip in the Betwa river 

The Ochha fort and temples of the fifteenth century 

The jhansi fort 

The Jhansi railway station 

Saloney the bundle of joy ! 

Saloney the little girl whose colour of eyes is different in each eye! Click for a larger picture and look closely at the colour of her eyes ! 

Terra cotta figures of various tribal gods in animal forms 

The naga habitation with elaborately carved wooden walls 

A naga dwelling made essentially of wood has beautifully carved wooden walls  

The inside mud walls of a tribal habitation with bright motifs painted in vegetable colours 

The inside of a tribal habitation with walls painted beautifully with floral motifs 

The lake in Bhopal 

Crumbling antiquity of Bhopal 

Boys are boys ! 

Worship at dusk 

Sanchi stupa 

The bathing ghat 

The exquisite rocky landscape of Hampi 

Hanuman- A boy wearing the costume of the monkey-God of Ramayana 

The gateman reading a newspaper 

A morning near the entrance of the temple 

The cows return home at dusk 

A lazy afternoon on the banks of the Mahanadi river 

A bull on the main arterial road of Puri town sharing road space with humans and vehicles.At sundown when the road traffic reaches its peak it is a free-for- all . 

The temple elephant in Srirangam 

The city of Madurai in South India.At the end of the road you can see St.Mary's cathedral 

The cows return home

The cows return home
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

The sun-patches on the brown cow have lent a strange beauty to the scene.

An old man sleeping on the ground in the temple premises

An old man sleeping on the ground in the temple premises
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

I saw this old man sleeping peacefully in a relatively less visited temple in Bhubaneswar.Going by the khakhi dress he is perhaps a watchman of the premises.

Fishing in the roadside culvert

Fishing in the roadside culvert
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

During the nonagricultural season the daily farm wagers do not have any work to keep their kitchen-fires burning . They try to do a little fishing on the side in open ponds or on the wayside culverts.

kamasutra poses

kamasutra poses
Originally uploaded by greatsrinath.

These celebrated love poses from Kamasutra depicted on the Konarak temple are known for their exquisite beauty and elegance of form .

Twosome

Twosome
Originally uploaded by greatsrinath.

The two boats anchored together and the shadows on the riverbank are what made me click this picture.This is on the banks of the Mahanadi river near Cuttack.

A temple in Orissa

A temple in Orissa
Originally uploaded by greatsrinath.

When there was a supercyclone the entire village had to be evacuated and the temple which is on a hillock provided them shelter in the wind and rain.The temple's open hall richly decorated is a good place for the villagers to catch a wink or two on a hot afternoon !

Girls drawing water from the mountain spring

Girls drawing water from the mountain spring
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

I snapped these girls collecting water in plastic pitchers from a mountain spring in the hills of Kodaikanal , a hill resort in Tamilnadu ,South India

Goats grazing on the bleak countryside

Goats grazing on the bleak countryside
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

The typical rocky terrain of unirrigated parts of South India provides good grazing grounds for goats and sheep. The barren grounds are full of thorny shrubs and are ideal grazing grounds for the poor farmer's cattle and other livestock.

life on the roads of Puri town

life on the roads of Puri town
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

In many ways life is Puri town is exactly like what it is in any Indian small town: traffic is chaotic with vehicles of different capacities and speeds jostle for space with men and animals on the crowded roads !

A deshi version of barbeque

A deshi version of barbeque
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

This guy is stewing something for the picnic revellers at the Chilka conservation project site in Orissa .The project aims to conserve the rare river dolphins in the Chilka lake which is a part estuary and a part lagoon.

life on the roads of Puri town.

life on the roads of Puri town.
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

Traffic in Puri town is chaotic and multi-tiered . The most important road is the temple chariot road which is an extremely wide road to accommodate the annual chariot procession of Lord Jagannath

The ramparts of the Golconda fort

The ramparts of the Golconda fort
Originally uploaded by ajrao.

Evening on the ramparts of the Golconda fort was an exciting time when the sun set in the west and the bats were returning home to their homes in the dilapidated fort structures.You can see little black specks of bats against the orange sky.

Grape-plucking in rural India 

The bathing ghat on the river Kaveri 

Houses are for living ! A typical tiled house in rural India 

A ten-year old acrobat walks on a single 4-feet stick in the streets of Kanakapura displaying amazing balancing skills ! 

The bathers on the half-dry riverbed 

This is the confluence of two rivers Arkavaty and Kaveri . The river bed is dry due to the damming of the water upstream . The place attracts quite a large number of bathers for religious reasons.